Clothes dryer



E. H. SMITH cLo'n-ms DRYER April 15, 1958 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Nov.30. 1956 INVENTOR. W H M A ril 15, 1958 E. H. mm

CLOTHES DRYER 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Nov. 30, 1956 INVENTOR.

United States Patent CLOTHES DRYER Ellwood H. Smith, Erie, Pa., assignorto Lovell Manufagtuariliigg Company, Erie, Pa., a corporation of Pennsyv Application November 30, 1956, Serial No. 625,486 4 Claims. (Cl.34-133) This invention is intended to improve clothes dryers byutilizing the blower and heater or stove as a struc- 2,830,385 PatentedApr. 15, 1958 2 for drying the clothes, the stove 6 also forms thestructural support for the front end of the drum. The front and backwalls and 9 when connected by vertical side walls 16 and by an archedtop wall 17 provide a box frame section of adequate strength forsupporting the front end of the drum. The flanges 7 and 10 stiifen thefront and back walls in the region opposite the drum flange 8. Thevertical side walls 16 are bolted or otherwise suitably secured to thefront arms 18 of U-shaped angle iron frame members 19 which extend fromfront to back on'opposite sides of the center of the drum. The

tural support for the drum. With such a construction,

the drum can be imperforate and the dryer will operate with substantialequal efficiency with or without an enclosing cabinet.

In the accompanying drawing, Fig. 1 is a perspective of a dryer; Fig. 2is a longitudinal section through the dryer with the cabinet removed;Fig. 3 is a perspective of the supporting structure for the drum; Fig.4'is a side view of the dryer with the cabinet removed; Figs. 5 and 6are respectively front and rear views of the structure shown in Fig. 4;Fig. 7 is an end view of the bearing structure for supporting the drum;Fig. 8 is a section'on line 8-8 of Fig. 7; Fig. 9 is a section through amodification of the bearing structure; and Fig. 10 is an end view of themodified bearing 'structure.

In the drawings, 1 indicates the dryer cabinet having on its front facea door 2 through which clothes are loaded and unloaded into animperforate drum 3. The door has on its inner face a seal 4 which in theclosed position of the door butts against the front face 5 of a stove orheater 6. The front face 5 of the stove has a circular flanged opening 7radially inward of the seal 4 and substantially in axial alignment witha circular flange or neck 8 at the front end of the drum 3. The stove 6has a back wall 9 which has a flanged opening 10 between and in linewith the openings 7 and 8. When the door is open, clothes can be loadedinto or unloaded from the drum through the openings 7, 8 and 10. Theflanges 7 and 10 have curved edges 7a and 10a so there are no exposededges on which clothes can catch. The flange 8 in the drum is so closeto the curved edge 10a that there is no chance for clothes catching onthe flange 8. The front and back walls 5 and 9 of the stove are spacedapart and provide a flue for the heated air which flows upwardly betweenthe walls and is discharged through a semi-circular screen 11 bridgingthe flanges 7 and 10 and thence flows axially through the flange 8 intothe front end of the drum as indicated by the arrows 12. The source ofthe heat for the stove is not critical. In the particular stoveillustrated, the heatcomes from a gas burner 13 in a chamber 14 beneaththe front part of the drum. The combustion air enters the back of thecombustion chamber 14 through louvers 15. The combustion takes place inthe part of the chamber 14 which is oflset to the rear of the fluebetween the walls 5 and 9. The products of combustion flow toward thelower end of the flue and directly beneath the lower end of the fluethere are louvers 15a through which cooling air enters and mixes withthe products of combustion so that the air entering the drum from theupper end of the flue is at a temperature lowenough to prevent scorchingof the clothes. Other air admission slots or perforations 15b areprovided in the bottom wall 150 of the combustion chamber.

In addition to providing the source of heat necessary actual support ofthe front end of the drum is from bearingblocks 20 which may, forexample, be wood or masonite impregnated with graphite. Two of thebearing blocks 20 are used, one on each side of the center of the drum.The bearing blocks are carried in holders 21 fixed to the wall 9 of thestove beneath the flange 10. The bearing blocks have arcuate surfaces 22whichengage the outer surface of the flange 8 on the drum. A felt seal23 may be arranged between the walls 9 of the stove and the front endwall 24 of the drum. This felt seal is not necessary because there isonly a small space 25 between the adjacent ends of the flanges 8 and 10and the small amount of air which leaks in through the space 25 has nomaterial effect upon the efficiency of the clothes drying operation. Infact, because the air entering the space 25 is drawn from the interiorof the cabinet, the effect would be in the direction of improving theefliciency of drying due to the preheating of the air within thecabinet. r

The heated air entering the drum at the front end through the flange 8flows axially through the drum and out through a cylindrical flange 26in the back wall 27 of the drum. A screen 28 dished inward from the backwall 27 of the drum and of substantially greater area than the fan inlet29 prevents blocking of the inlet by clothes held by suction against thescreen. Clothes tend to fall on the uppermost surface of the screen butas the drum turns, the clothes fall away from the lower half of thescreen so on the average, the air flow is predominantly confined to thelower half of the screen. This increases the contact between the clothesand the heated air.- The flange 26 of the drumis presented to and is ofthe same diameter as the inlet opening 29 in the front wall .30 of ablower housing. The blower housing consists. of front and back walls 30and 31 connected by a scroll shaped wall 32 and forming a scroll casingfor an impeller 33 mounted on a shaft 34 journaled in the back wall 31.The blower housing has a discharge 35 which is shown directed verticallyupward but which obviously could be directed in any direction. Theblower housing serves as the structural support for the back end of thedruih. On opposite sides, the blower housing has suitably fixed thereto,brackets 36 which are bolted to vertical arms 37 on the angle iron base19. On the front wall 30 of the blower housing are bearing brackets 38holding bearing blocks 39 which engage the underside of the rear drumflange 26. The bearing blocks 39 are of the same construction as thebearing blocks 20. There is a slight v I small amount of leakage may beprevented'by a'felt seal 41 carried on the front wall 30 of the blowerhousing, and bearing on the rear wall 27 of the drum. l I

From one aspect, the end flanges 8 and .26 onthedrum .are trunnions andthe bearing blocks-20 and 39 are trunnion bearings. The diameter of thefront trunnion provided by the flange 8 is sufiicient to provideadequate access for loading and unloading the clothes. The diameter ofthe rear trunnion 26 is sufllcient to provide adequate area forwithdrawing the moisture laden air from the interior of the drum. Thatis the reason for the differences in diameter of the trunnions.

The motor 42 for-driving the fan and drum is carried in a bracket 43fixed to one of the near uprights 37 of the angle iron frame members 19.There is a direct belt drive 44 from the motor to the shaft 34 carryingthe impeller 33 so that the impeller rotates at a speed comparable withthe shaft speed of the motor. The drum is driven by a belt 45' whichrides on the outer periphery of the drum adjacent the rear uprights 37.The belt 48 is driven from an idler pulley 46 on a shaft 47 driven by abelt 48a from the motor.

When the parts so far described are assembled, there is a completeoperating dryer which can be used without any cabinet providing the door2 or an equivalent closure is hinged on the front wall 5 of thestove.The stove 6 and the blower housing 32 in conjunction with the U-shapedangle iron sections 19 provide a complete supporting frame for thedryer. The bases 46 ofthe U-shaped members 19 can rest upon a floor orupon any other desired supporting structure. The bearing blocks 20 and39 carried by the stove and blower housing provide trunnion bearings forthe hollow trunnions 8 and 26 of the drum. One of the rear uprights 37provides a support for the driving motor 42 and for the belt drives tothe impeller 33 and drum 3. In'the case of a gas heated dryer, the usualgas control such as the solenoid valve and safety pilot indicatedgenerally at 49 can be mounted on an outer end wall 50 of the combustionchamber 14. Access to the combustion chamber may be had through anaccess panel 51 in the lower end of the front wall 5. If an electricheater is used, the controls 49 will not be necessary. With both gas andelectric dryers, there will be the usual harness (not shown) containingthe usual on, off and timing controls for the drying cycle.

In the use of the dryer, clothes are loaded into the drum through thehollow trunnion 8 and upon closing the door, the dryer is started by theusual. control for turning on the heater and motor. Heated air flows inthrough the hollow trunnion 8 axially through the drum and is sucked outof the drum through the hollow trunnion 26. Since the drum is rotating,the clothes are be ing continually tumbled diagonally across the drumand intercept the heated air stream flowing through the drum.Intimatecontact is obtained withthe heated air which keeps the drumtemperature low enough even though the temperature of the air enteringthe drum is quite high. In a typical dryer, the air entering the drummay be at a temperature of 450' while the drum temperature itself willnever rise above 140'. At the end of the drying cycle, the heater andmotor are turned off and the dried clothes removed through the hollowtrunnion 8. There is no lint problemin this dryer. The drum'3 itself isimperforate so that any lint knocked 08 the tumbling clothes cannotescape through the walls of th drum. The openings 25 and 40 at each endof the drum are under suction so that lint cannot escape through eitherof these openings. The only place for the linttogoisoutthroughthehollowtrunnionflintotheinlet 2! of the blower housingwhence it is discharged through the blower outlet 35. By connecting theoutlet 35 to the usual vent piping, any lint entrained in the dischargedair can be conducted outdoors or to any desired trap or filter. Withinthe dryer itself, there is no place for lint to collect or toaccumulate.

In Figs. 9 and I0 is shown a modification of the bearing construction inwhichcorresponding parts are indicated by the same reference numeralwith a prime. The principal diflerence in the bearing construction isthat theflangell'surroundsthehollowtnmnionfl'angeS' on the drum andthere is arranged between the flanges be omitted; The bearing blocks 20'introduce less fric tion and are preferred to the use of graphiteimpregnated felt. I

What is claimed as new is:

1. In a clothes dryer, a cylindrical drum having front and back endwalls provided with hollow trunnions centered on the drum axis, a fanhousing having an'inlet registering axially with the trunnion in theback end wall of the drum, a heater housing having at the front of thedrum spaced front and back walls with openings in the walls registeringaxially with the trunnion in the front end wall of the drum, trunnionhearings on the fan and heater housings, a pair of U-shaped framemembers on opposite sides of the drum axis having bases for resting on asupporting surface, a pair of upright arms connected in supportingrelation to opposite sides of the heater housing, and a pair of uprightarms connected in supporting relation to the fan housing whereby thedrum,

is supported through the fan and heater housings.

2. In a clothes dryer, is cylindrical drum having front and back endwalls provided with hollow trunnions centered on the drum axis, a fanhousing having an inlet registering with the trunnion in the back endwall of the drum, a heater housing at the front of the drum havingspaced front and back walls providing a flue for heated air having anarcuate discharge in front of and registering with the lower part of thetrunnion in the front end wall of the drum, a door cooperating with theflue to direct the flow of heated air from the flue discharge into thetrunnion in the front wall of the drum, trunnion hearings on the fan andheater housings, and frame members connected in load carrying relationto the fan and heater housings whereby the drum is supported through thefan and heater housings.

3. In a clothes dryer, a cylindrical drum having front and back endwalls provided with hollow trunnions centered on the drum axis, a fanhousing having an inlet registering with the trunnion in the back endwall of the drum, a heater housing at the front of the drum havingspaced front and back walls providing a flue for heater air, said wallshaving openings registering with the trunnion in the front end wall ofthe drum, a door closing against the front wall of the heater housing,trunnion bearings on the fan and heater housings, and frame membersconnected in load carrying relation to the fan and heater housingswhereby the drum is supported through the fan and heater housings.

4. In a clothes dryer, a cylindrical drum having front and back endwalls provided with hollow trunnions centered on the drum axis, a fanhousing having an inlet registering axially with the trunnion in theback end wall References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATESPATEN'IS 2,393,380 Iorgenson et al Jan. 22. 1946 2,608,769 O'Neil Sept.2, 1952 2,682,711 Wakefield July 6, 1954

